Priyanka Gandhi yet to give her consent to campaign, says UP Congress leader

Uttar Pradesh Congress campaign committee chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh today said that party president Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has not yet given her consent to campaign in the poll-bound state.

"We have been requesting her to campaign for a long time now. We are hopeful that she will give her consent to campaign. And when she gives her consent, we'll let everyone know the plan," Singh said.

"As of now, she has not said 'yes'... but we are confident that she will agree," Singh added.

Asked about media reports saying that Priyanka will play a ‘major role’ in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls next year, he said, "I am not saying it is incorrect or correct."

Priyanka and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attended the party's strategy meeting on Uttar Pradesh elections here on Friday. Priyanka had attended the party's strategy meeting on UP assembly elections in the past as well.

Asked if anything has been finalised on the selection of candidates for the assembly polls in UP, Singh said, "The process is going on. Very soon we'll announce the list."

"If it becomes necessary to announce anything, we will do it at that very moment," Singh said without giving further details.

He also said that the next strategy meeting will be held after November 22.

Asked about Congress' polls strategist Prashant Kishor's fate, Singh declined to say anything and said that only party General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad can comment.

On November 21, party president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka will be in Allahabad to attend a photo exhibition on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's life to mark her birth centenary anniversary celebrations.

Priyanka Gandhi has so far confined her electoral campaigning to constituencies of her mother and brother Rahul Gandhi (Rae Bareli and Amethi).

The Congress party, which managed to bag only 28 seats in the 2012 assembly polls, wants to be the kingmaker this time. Several top Congress leaders had in past said that Priyanka has the potential to emerge as a mass leader.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress had secured just two seats in the last Lok Sabha elections with party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi emerging victorious from their traditional seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi, respectively.

The Congress is in political wilderness in Uttar Pradesh since 1989 following emergence of divisive ‘Mandal-Mandir’ politics and rise of the BSP, which took away its crucial Dalit vote base.